Don Thomas, owner, builder and driver of his Buick powered CRA sprint
roadster at El Centro, 1962.
Hillborn injected 364 Nailhead Buick powered. Note, the engine sits
in the car at a diagonal and to the left of the car.
Loading up car in Wisconsin in June of 2002.
Stopped by a fairly well known race track on the way home.
Don Thomas built a very unique frame.
Car at home. Note, someone over the life of the car had added a "Watson"
type nose, not original to when Don built the car.
Don Thomas sitting in the chassis of his roadster that he built 40 years
ago in this same driveway. I took the car to Don's home in El Cajon in
September of 2002, and discussed the history of the car, and changes made
to the frame.
Here I am standing next to the Don Thomas roadster, along side another
roadster that I have been working on for it's owner, Carl Severin.
Working on the car, paint has been stripped. The original paint was
found underneath 4 layers of paint. From that chip of paint, I was able
to reproduce the original color.
The car was put together in May of 2003, for it's first car show.
December of 2003 the car is apart again and I have painted the frame
Purple Mist, re-chromed the roll-bar, and assembling the front end hopefully
for the last time.
Don Thomas visiting, late '03
After 2 1/2 years of work, the following 7 photos are how the sprint car looks in 2004
Steve Bonesteel works out of his studio at:
2617 E. Teague
Clovis, CA 93619
(559)299-5518 Voice
(559)325-8277 FAX E-Mail
